Jean-Antoine de Mesmes

Who was Jean-Antoine de Mesmes?

Jean-Antoine de Mesmes was a Parisian magistrate and member of the Académie française.

Mesmes was the son of Jean-Jacques de Mesmes, himself a member of the Académie française from 1676 to 1688.

Mesmes was elected to the twenty-second seat of the Académie française on 18 January 1710, replacing Louis de Verjus, comte de Crécy, and was received by François de Callières on 20 March 1710.

In 1712, de Mesmes was elected to the presidency of the Parlement of Paris. His admonishment of the king for the Law affair and for the elevation of Cardinal Dubois to the archdiocese of Cambrai earned for the entire Parlement an exile to Pontoise. He was a familiar of the court in Sceaux.

Upon de Mesmes's death, the twenty-second seat was succeeded by Pierre-Joseph Alary. His family neglected to advertise his membership in the Academy in his obituary; when the Academy expressed a certain astonishment, his brother sent a letter of apology and regret.